Friday, October 10, 2008

Some quotes and quips from players and coaches that didn't make it onto the blog or into any stories this week (and last):

Mark Richt on Cordy Glenn's growth: "He's been very confident in what to do. He knows pretty much what to do, but I'm sure his mental process from the huddle to the line of scrimmage, he's got wheels turning maybe a little bit faster than he would a year from now or two years from now. Two years from now, he won't even think about it. He's going to know what to do and because of that, he'll be able to play much more aggressively."

Richt on Knowshon dealing with his injury: "There will be a little extra padding on that thing. But I wouldn't think it would change how we'd play Knowshon. We might be more apt to give Richard a few more carries than he got. We've got to watch Knowshon. We have to watch his energy level. He's been good. Some guys won't go out no matter what even if they're just not full speed. If he feels like he needs a break, he'll let us know, and we'll make that sub."

Richt on Brannan Southerland's rehab: "He was hurt, he was rehabbing, he thought he was going to be ready to go this summer and be full speed his senior year, he was all excited about that. The last x-ray before they were going to let him go do everything unlimited, they found a crack in the bone parallel to the screw that was put in. He realized they were going to have to go in there and do it again and he was, of course, disappointed at it. He was in the tank when he first heard the news, but within a couple days, he would make the mature comment like, You know what coach, it could happen to anybody. I'm going to make the best of it, I'm going to rehab, I'm going to get ready to play and finish out the rest of the season strong.' He didn't just sit there and feel sorry for himself."

Richt on Shaun Chapas: "Shaun Chapas has played very well. Not good, but very well. There was an obvious time where he fell down on a route where he could have caught a touchdown pass, but you don't want to base it off one glaring thing. He's played extremely well and will continue to play."

Richt on whether Stafford can be considered a great QB without a championship: "If you're going to say who is the greatest quarterback of all time, you'd probably go right to how many Super Bowls did the guy win, how many national championships did the guy win, how many SEC championships did a guy win. To say that Stafford or anybody else was the best, you'd have to have a championship during his tenure to put him in that category. But I do think he's a great quarterback."

Richt on the offensive line's potential for improvement: "That's the biggest difference. Last year's line, I think they got all 15 practices in the same spot. All 29 preseason practices in the same spot. The great majority of the year they were in the same spot. I think we have settled in to our positions pretty good. I do believe we have the right guys in the right spot and we are subbing properly. There is no question we will get better. A year ago I knew as the season went on we would get better. Not to bore everybody but if you have a third-year tackle or even fourth-year junior tackle, when season begins to midseason, he should improve some. He has already built his base of his strength and knowledge. He should improve a little bit. But if you take a freshman that is almost ground zero and you let him go through camp and you let him go through six ballgames, he may not be where that junior is, but he may (improve dramatically). The improvement should be pretty significant for Cordy, for Bean, for Ben Jones. Those guys are going to get better. Their level of play should go up more drastically than a guy that has been around a while. So, yeah, I do expect those guys to make drastic improvement. And they have been improving."

Richt on where the O line is right now: "I said it, I don't know whether it was a coach's show or Sunday night teleconference or whatever it is, when we watch the film we are not seeing four out of five blow up. Every once in a while, we will see one out of five make a mistake. If you got two or three or four guys busting all the time you have no confidence and no reasonable reason to assume you are going to put it together or you are close to putting it together. We are not far off at all. I think any day now, any game now we might really put a strong performance together, hopefully it will be this week."

Richt on A.J. Harmon: "He's looked fine. He's learning. He's got a great attitude. Coach Searels has got him on the I-don't-expect-the-world-from-you, so he's bringing him along and hasn't quite put the hammer on him. He's doing pretty good. A.J. was kind of heavy when he got here this summer, and he's done a nice job of getting his body weight down, and now he needs to build up his strength."

Richt on who starts at tight end: "Right now, Figgins will play. I don't know if John will start him, I really haven't got into that, but he took the green jersey off yesterday and he got into inside drill. I asked him today, he said he had no setbacks at all, and today he was ready to go full speed. He feels good."Richt on the WRs: "Overall I think the receiving corps has done a very nice job. Very few missed assignments, they've been blocking downfield, very few balls that have been dropped especially the kind that are in their hands with nobody else around them. They've done a nice job."

Richt on Israel Troupe: "I really like what Troupe's doing. He's gaining the confidence of the coaching staff. He's playing more of a true flanker right now, which is where A.J.'s playing, but he's done a very nice job. We're not afraid to have him in there on a pass or a run. Early in the year we were probably easier to predict if so-and-so was coming in the game it was a pass, tendencies were probably building on us, but we're not in that situation as much as we were in the beginning just because of the confidence we're gaining."

Richt on the team's tough schedule this year and next: "I don't think Barry Switzer would have done that, or Bear Bryant or somebody that figured out how to win a lot of games every year. I think they were actually in full control of their schedules."

Richt on moving Kiante Tripp to TE: "In the blocking area, and he moves pretty well. It's amazing how well the big man does move. It's one thing he has above all else is probably athleticism. He's run some decent routes and he's snatched the ball pretty good. If that was going to be his position for good, you'd probably try to trim him to the 260 range which you could probably do without an awful lot of effort, but we're not certain enough at the tackle position to just cut him loose to start dropping weight like that."

Richt on whether opponents will know it's a running play when Tripp is in the game: "Earlier on, that's probably true until Kiante would get more adept at route running. I would say there wouldn't be many safeties that he's just a big man. Sometimes you don't have to have tremendous speed, although he does run well for a big man. You just get body position and put the ball in the right spot and he'll catch it over a linebacker or a safety."

Richt on replacing Dannell Ellerbe: "Gamble and Dent know what to do inside. You've still got Dowtin, Rennie and Akeem that know the Will. Dewberry at Sam, Dent also knows Sam. We've got enough guys to do it, and we've kind of been practicing for that all year long. Dent and Gamble have been working at the Mike all along knowing that, if you remember us talking about all those spread teams, we better get some of these Sams to learn how to play in the box, learn how to play Mike, and some of that practice is paying off that we've got some guys who know what to do."Jeremy Lomax on moving past the Alabama loss: "Losses to me, once you get past Monday, it's back to work. That weekend is tough on me, but it's back to work. It's a hard thing going a whole week after a loss. But we needed a little break, it's a good break to have, and we'll get back Monday."Lomax on Tennessee's offensive line: "Their O-line is one of the best in the nation. They've got tremendous talent. They've got the O line, two great running backs. Great talent at wide receiver, and SEC defenses always bring it every game. But we just need one more point than they have."Lomax on Georgia's excessive penalties: "It's a mix a lack of discipline, a lack of technique, a lack of fundamentals, all of the above. I knew penalties were going to bite us in the (behind), but I was hoping they weren't going to bite us in the (behind) this soon. But better sooner than later. They got us on the penalties, we've been averaging 10 or 11 a game, but we've got to cut down on that. We're killing ourselves with some of this crap. We put at least 21 points on the board last week with penalties, and that's ridiculous."Knowshon Moreno on Richard Samuel: "He's still doing the same thing he did when he first got here. He's still running the ball really hard, and he's still making plays in practice, still getting bigger and stronger."

Brannan Southerland on the offensive line: "I think the offensive line has done a great job to this point. They're still a young line, so every game, it's just going to be that much more experience for them, and they're going to get better and better every game."Southerland on competing with Shaun Chapas: "I think Shaun has done an incredible job. I don't remember any plays where he's missed a block or missed an assignment. I think he's graded out at 90 percent or better in just about every game. But me and him both, we're competing to play. Only one of us can play at a time in most sets, so we know that the best thing for the team is to get out there and compete against each other."

Southerland on getting the running game going against UT: "I think it's not only a challenge to get Knowshon into the open field and get him the carries and the yards, but just our running game in general, whether it's Knowshon or Caleb or Richard. We need to open up our running game. We pride ourselves on being able to run the ball, so we definitely want to be able to run the ball on any defense."

Chris Davis on Cordy Glenn: "He's a very goal-oriented person. He gets his job done. He's very professional about what he does, and he just goes out and does his job."

Stafford on Southerland and Chapas: "He and Shaun will be able to split some time and keep both of them fresh throughout the game. He's a senior, and he should be able to bring some leadership and experience to the offense."

Stafford on Cordy Glenn: "He's been doing good. He's an even-keeled guy. Keeps the same demeanor all the time. He's got a whole bunch of ability perfect size to play offensive line and good feet. He's just got to get used to playing in the SEC against some of these D tackles."

Tony Ball on Richard Samuel: "I think it really speaks volumes of his maturity that he's able to analyze what he needs to work on, and I think that's a very good sign that he's able to do that. And to make reference to being patient as a runner speaks volume of his maturity. And that is correct. He does need to continue to work on being patient, trusting his eyes, understanding the blocking scheme, understanding how to set up his blocks, how to stretch the defense and create running lanes, and that's an ongoing process, but he's done really well this week."Ball on Samuel's lack of playing time the past two games: "Part of that had to do with the opponent and making sure that you put the ball into 24's hands. You've got to play your best players. I think when you go back and look at last year when it was tight, you had your best players in the game, and I think that's one thing. And the fact that Caleb has done well, and it's hard to rotate three when you've got a Knowshon, and then you've got Caleb and Richard, it's just kind of hard. It's not something that's done consciously, but that's just the way it is. But the last couple of weeks, there has not been the thought to let him sit back and really absorb it because he's got it. And the only way he's going to get better now is through repetition and gaining experience."

Ball on Samuel's kick return against Alabama: "That happened like you would expect it to. I did not put him in there, but we had Ramarcus Brown got banged up, and we had to go again. We had nine returns, and we had to go again, and Richard, he gets in the huddle every time wanting to go. And Ramcarcus couldn't go, so boom! he was in there. He answered the bell and took advantage of his opportunity."

Samuel on lessons he has learned from Knowshon and Caleb King: "Both of them got redshirted, so they've been through sitting on the sideline and not being able to play. So they help me by saying to take this time to learn and get used to everything, telling me my time is going to come and not be in such a rush."

Samuel on his kick return: "I hadn't played in the last two games, so I was real amped up to get out there for kickoff return. To be able to get out there and show what I can do, but really just to get on the field and have fun. I was excited just to get on the field."

Aron White on his improvement in practice: "When you're not seeing a whole lot of playing time, you kind of get down on yourself, and it's hard to have a lot of tempo and enthusiasm. But situations like this, your team needs you, they're calling you to step your game up, so I think I've definitely had a lot more focus out there. I've kind of taken it upon myself to give that extra ounce of effort in practice and pay attention to this and that in the meetings. So I definitely think my game has improved in the past week or two since we've had the injuries, and hopefully I can continue to build on that."

White on what he has improved on the most: "I think definitely blocking. I think I've just got a little more tenacity about myself in the last week or two. Coaches are saying things to me, tackles saying things to me like Good job here' or Good job there,' just boosts your confidence."White on his opportunity this week: "I don't want to say that I haven't had the chance, but now that the spotlight is on me as far as the tight end position goes, me and Kiante, people are focusing in on it more, and I'm getting more reps in practice and things like that."

White on his new role: "It's definitely different being the guy who kind of knows stuff and not the guy who's asking questions. But Bruce and Tripp are still helping him out, but it's kind of a group effort."

White on replacing Tripp Chandler and Bruce Figgins: "Tripp and Bruce are tremendous blockers. I'm not going to go toe-to-toe with those guys and come out with the same results, but I've held up throughout the season and preseason against our guys, and to me, they're some of the best players in America."

Blair Walsh on how his season has gone so far: "I feel like I'm getting there. This was a tough loss, obviously, but anything I can do to help my team is the main thing. I have a personal goal not to miss anything I should make, and I feel like I'm achieving that. I've just got to stay consistent through the season. Obviously the misses are going to come, but you don't want to think about it."

Kiante Tripp on his move to tight end: "He called me to his office, said here's the situation, laid it down for me. He was like, I need you.' I was like, Coach, I'm a team player, if you need me there, I got you.' Like all the years before that."

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About the Author

Seth Emerson has been covering the SEC and Georgia (on and off) since 2002. He worked at the Albany Herald from 2002-05, then spent five years at The State in Columbia, S.C., covering South Carolina. He returned to Athens in August of 2010, only to find that David Pollack and David Greene were no longer playing for the Bulldogs. Adjustments were made.

Emerson is originally from Silver Spring, Md., and graduated from Maryland in 1998 with a degree in journalism and a minor in getting lost on the way to practically everywhere. Then he spent four years at The Washington Post, covering small colleges, a couple NCAA basketball tournaments, and on one glorious day, was yelled at by Tony Kornheiser. It was probably at The Post that he also learned to write in the third person.

These days he lives in Athens with his beloved and somewhat wimpy dog, Archie. Together they fight crime at night in northeast Georgia, except on nights there is no crime, in which case they sit at home, sip on white wine and watch reruns of "Mad Men."